Akupara
Also called Father of All Turtles, Kurma.
In Hindu cosmology, Akupara is the gigantic tortoise said to bear the weight of the earth, standing beneath the elephants that hold up the visible world.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Indian folklore
- Region
- India (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Stone-Gazers
- Symbols
- Turtle
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Turtle is The turtle denotes world-support, heaven-earth union, longevity, and harvest success, but also slowness, sensuality, cowardice, drought, and hostility to the sun.
why
Some tellings extend the image further, describing the tortoise as itself resting upon something else, such as a serpent or the cosmic waters, producing a stacked picture of support beneath support that mythographers have compared to similar world-turtle motifs found in other traditions.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Body of cosmic immeasurable size
why
Akupara is the gigantic tortoise said to bear the weight of the earth
- Bears the world on its back
why
Akupara appears in Hindu cosmological accounts as the foundational tortoise upon which the earth is said to rest, part of a layered picture of the world in which the ground is supported by elephants, and the elephants in turn stand upon Akupara's shell.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Earth carries
4 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Akupara."
- John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, s.v. "Akupara."
- Maria Leach, editor, Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, s.v. "Akupara."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Akupara."